It is known to use a mobile robot to take pictures of objects or persons and transmit the obtained pictures to a remote terminal so that the objects or persons may be observed or monitored from a remote location. The mobile robot may also be controlled from a portable terminal, for instance as disclosed in Japanese patent laid open publication No. 2003-6532. According to the system disclosed in this Japanese patent publication, a robot control server and a portable terminal as well as the robot are connected to a network so that an operator may give instructions to the robot from the portable terminal via the robot control server.
According to this proposal, a control program is stored in the robot control server, and the operator is enabled to control the operation of the robot with the aid of this control program. The Japanese patent publication also discloses the possibility of using a personal computer instead of a portable terminal. In this case, the robot stands on a stage, and the image of the scene surrounding the robot is acquired by a camera placed above the stage to display it on the portable terminal. The robot is also equipped with a camera, but is not used for controlling the robot but only for the purpose of confirming how the robot is executing the instructions.
In certain situations, it is desirable to have a robot take pictures of moving objects. In such a case, the robot is required to be capable of searching for and tracking the objects. For instance, in an amusement park or an event site, an entertainer in a costume of a cartoon character, animal or the like moves about within the site to play with children, and the robot may be instructed to follow the entertainer to allow an operator in a remote location to monitor how the entertainer is performing. However, the conventional system is inadequate for such a purpose because the robot is capable of moving about only along a path prescribed by the robot control server, and not capable of searching for a moving object by itself.
Also, it is desirable if the robot is able to take a picture of an object such as an entertainer and guest in a proper frame layout. For instance, it may be desirable if the object to be located in a proper relationship with the background or in the center of the viewing angle of the camera. The robot could urge the object to move in a particular direction to achieve a desired frame layout. It would be particularly desirable if the robot takes pictures of the object by itself while allowing the pictures that are taken to be displayed on a remote terminal for the user to monitor the layout of each picture that is taken so that a frame layout that is acceptable to the user may be selected with a minimum amount of effort on the part of the user.
In places like amusement parks and event sites, a plurality of robots may be deployed within the site with the task of taking the pictures of the visitors possibly with entertainers in costume. Additionally, visitors may wish to photographed with a robot. In such a case, it would be difficult to have a first robot to be positioned as a cameraman and have a visitor or user join a second robot so that the visitor may be photographed with the second robot in a desired frame layout.
The prior art is only capable of instructing the robot to move in a particular direction and stand at a particular spot, and a considerable amount of time would be necessary to achieve such a desired layout of the object.